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Gaia Blade
The Gaia Blade (ガイアのつるぎ, Gaia no tsurugi?, lit. Sword of Gaia) is a Long Sword-class weapon Artifact available in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, and in the former game many would instinctively identify it as the game's "ultimate weapon". Basic Description GBA series The Gaia Blade increases the wielder's base Attack rating by 135 points, the highest attack rating increase provided by a piece of equipment in Golden Sun, and also increases the wielder's Venus power by 20 and Venus resistance by 20. The sword is a pure-element weapon because its physical attack is itself an attack whose resulting damage is either increased or decreased based on how the user's Venus power compares to the target's Venus resistance. The Gaia Blade's Unleash effect is Titan Blade (Titanic in the Japanese version), with the standard base activation rate of 35%, which is a physical attack with an additional 70 points of damage added, and then is affected by the user and target's Venus statistics as before. Visually, Titan Blade is the most spectacular Unleash effect in Golden Sun, which visually is the wielder summoning a colossal yellow sword crashing down into the area where the target is, letting loose a veritable water spout of yellow energy as it digs into the target, and detonating in a large bright explosion of purple energy. Dark Dawn In Dark Dawn, the Gaia Blade is found hidden deep within Yamata Ruins, and requires both the Yellow Orb and the Utility Psynergy Search to be found. Similarly to the stronger Sol Blade, only Matthew can equip the Gaia Blade. The Gaia Blade gains 3 new unleashes: Power Charge, Spiral Assault, and Sky Diver. Ironically, none of the Gaia Blade's new Unleashes appear to be of the Venus element: Two of them are aligned with Jupiter, the element in conflict, while the remaining one is with the symbiotic element (Mars). This is a somewhat awkward combination considering the Gaia Blade's Venus elemental nature. Visually regarding its special abilities, Power Charge resembles a burst of white energy being emitted upon hitting the target. The Spiral Assault casts a whorl of wind blades towards the opposition, dealing Jupiter-based damage to the target and the two adjacent units. In the case of Sky Diver, the Adept leaps high into the air and swings the blade forward to release a golden bird-like spirit that dives into the enemy with a huge explosion, which has a chance to paralyze the target. This sword's signature Unleash, Titan Blade, summons a massive blade to the target's location and erupts in Venus energy as it digs in the earth before the screen flashes white. It is very similar to its previous visualization but rendered this time. Analysis Golden Sun In Golden Sun, the Gaia Blade is perhaps quite clearly the best weapon in the game. Most players would equip it on Isaac because when he has all seven Venus Djinn on him his very high Venus power and resistance (further bolstered by the sword itself) causes his normal attack, Unleash, and even his Psynergy moves to be noticeably more powerful than those of any other Adept. A typical method of capitalizing on Isaac's efficiency with the Gaia Blade is to equip the Warrior's Helm, which increases his Unleash rate by 10% and Venus power by 10, and Hyper Boots, which further increases his Unleash rate by 12%. He will be able to Unleash a powerful Titan Blade effect 57% of the time when he attacks, and if he is wearing Spiked Armor that chance even further increases by 6% to form the maximum possible Unleash rating of 63%. (Titan Blade's effect is essentially a more damaging version of the Ragnarok Psynergy attack, which is viewable as a more damaging version of a normal physical attack with the Gaia Blade.) Golden Sun: The Lost Age Considering how powerful and easy to get the Gaia Blade is, it can safely be assumed that if Golden Sun: The Lost Age is played with full data transfer, Isaac will be equipped with the Gaia Blade when his party joins Felix's. At that point, even though the Gaia Blade has technically less of an attack rating than weapons Felix's party can have (Hestia Blades and the Phaeton's Blade, namely), the Gaia Blade is still a good weapon for Isaac to wield and can only be reliably replaced by a stronger Venus-based weapon, such as the three possible weapons that can be forged from Golem Cores. One of those three weapons, a Huge Sword, is a direct improvement over the Gaia Blade that shares its pure-element Venus nature and has higher Attack and an Unleash with an additional side effect that lowers enemy Defense, though it does not increase Venus power and resistance. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn When the Gaia Blade is acquired in Yamata Ruins, it will instantly be much more powerful than most of the equipment you will already have in your possession. However, the addition of Jupiter and Mars-based unleashes does not give Matthew as much power as he could. Regardless, since only Matthew can wield it, it will make a placeholder weapon until the Sol Blade has been acquired. Category:Artifacts Category:Venus-based Unleash effects Category:Pure-element weapons Category:Venus-based offenses Category:Venus power-affecting equipment Category:Venus resistance-affecting equipment Category:Mars-based Unleash effects Category:Jupiter-based Unleash effects Category:Weapons with four Unleashes